Franklin and the Freemasons

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses Franklin's diplomatic abilities and successes that were heavily influenced by the Freemasons. The paper explains that the Freemasonry was a secret organization in which members would generically help each other successfully achieve their established desiderates. The paper attempts to shows how the Freemasons offered him the vision of an improved future and the energy to fight for his vision of freedom.

From the Paper:

"Benjamin Franklin's actual date of birth is uncertain; according to some sources, this would have occurred on the 6th of January 1705, whereas others place his birth the following year, on the 17th of January. As an adolescent, Franklin was inclined towards truth and his desire to present it to the world materialized in his newspaper related activities. He travelled to various regions and documented his findings. As an adult, he became interested in various domains, including arts, politics and even science. "Ten years before the breaking out of the war of the Revolution, Hume called Franklin " the first philosopher and indeed the first great man of letters " in the new world ; on the very eve of that struggle, Samuel Johnson, in his astonishing pamphlet Taxation no Tyranny, described him as " a master of mischief," who knew " how to put in motion the engine of political electricity"; and during the war, while Franklin was pressing the claims of the American patriots upon France, he was often represented in various attitudes as commanding and using the lightning as a servant of the cause of liberty."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Franklin, B., 1914, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Macmillan
• Hodapp, C., 2008, Benjamin Franklin and the Lodge of Nine Sisters Exhibit at National Heritage Museum, Freemasons for Dummies, http://freemasonsfordummies.blogspot.com/2008/02/benjamin-franklin-and-lodge-of-nine.html last accessed on September 18, 2008
• 1933, Benjamin Franklin, Freemason, Short Talk Bulletin, Volume XI, Number 10
• 2006, Benjamin Franklin 1706 - 1790, Solar Navigator, http://www.solarnavigator.net/inventors/benjamin_franklin.htm last accessed on September 18, 2008
• 2007, Freemasonry, The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th Edition

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